Friday, January 16, 2009

This post is for my consultant friends who need a web site for credibility, and don't want to hire someone. I used GoDaddy's Website Tonight product. I am paying $45/year for two years. However, since then I've found easier and even cheaper options. Here is what I've learned. I'd love your comments as well.

Microsoft Office LiveMicrosoft Office Live offers the same thing as GoDaddy offers except it's free. Then for $15/year you can get your own domain name. The user interface looks a lot more straight forward. Go to http://home.officelive.com/settings/pages/home.aspx.

Office Live gives you three steps to get your site up and going1. Design it (using premade templates for most types of pages you'd need)2.Get a url3. Set up your email address.

I don't think it's any harder than using PowerPoint.

IntuitI see that Intuit offers something similar. Please comment if you end up trying that one.

Blog-centric: WordPressFinally, if you want your site to be blog-centric, consider WordPress. Then your home page will be your blog. Other than that, it offers the same capabilities to add pages, use a template for your look, and purchase your own domain name for $15/ year. No email. Some nice traffic reporting if you want to count visitors.

Final Tip on ArtI have been consistently pleased with www.istockphoto.com. They offer rights to use photos and artwork for as low as $1 per image and it's very easy to use.You can make your site much more professional that way.